Perforated panel construction



Aug.` 15, 1961 A.'D.IvScHwAT-z E r AL 2,996,138v

' l PERFORATAED PANEL CONSTRUCTIONA 2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed July 1o, 1959INVENTOR. @oaf/zr A. D. SCHWARTZ w77 .rroeA/EY naaronarrtn PANELcoNsTRUcnoN Robert A. D. Schwartz, 1081 Annerley Road,v Piedmont,

Calif.,v and Stephen W. Llndhelm, 1146 4KeelerSt.,

Berkeley, Calif. v

Filed July 10, 1959, Ser. No. 826,360

4 Claims. .'(Cl. ISI- 33) This invention relates to ventilated',Iacoustical ceiling construction.-

In the installation of acoustical ceilings-it is a common practr'ceto`suspend a metal `framewo'rlcffrom theperma-y nent ceiling of a 'room'and to mount acoustical panels or tiles on the framework, such panelsor tiles being of a solid but porous character. It-is desirable,particularly in the case of large rooms, to Ventil-ate the roombyblowing air into the plenum (which .isv thespace between the lowersuspendedceiling and th'e upper, permanent ceiling) and providing airpassages in the acoustical panels through which the air the acousticalceiling.

In a ceiling structure of-this character it is advantageous to provide ameans for adjusting the number and size of the air passages in theacoustical panels', and lit is advantageous that such adjustment meansbe easily manipulated so that the number and/or size of the air passagescan be varied. f

There area number of .factors which determine the optimum number, sizeand distribution of air passages. These factors; Ahence the optimum airpassage arrangejment,'wi1l vary from one ceiling to the next, and-theywill vary vwiththe same ceiling as conditions change. Typical relevantfactors are the air pressure and volume rate of the source of air; theshape and,` dimensions of the plenum andthe presence and nature ofobstructions in the plenum; thel relative volumes of the plenum and theroom or rooms', beneath; thespresencefand nature of obstructions in theroom space beneath the plenum; 'other means which ventilatethe room,etc; Clearly, the fac-- tors are such'that a formula of generalapplication relating air passage area anddis'tribution to total ceilingarea is not practicable. Of necessity', trial and errormust be reliedupon,` and from time to time it may be' necessary to make changes'irrthe air passage'. area and/or distribution. v f

For these reasons, jt is desirable to employ a means whereby the airpassage area and distribution can be controlled and varied atwill andwith ease, and wherein the disturbing effect ofl clogging and fouling ofair passages is minimized.

Heretofore rath-er complicated means have been pirovided for the controlof air passage area and distribution. Also, the air' passage orificeshave been in the form of slots and have been prone to become cloggedwith dust, which renders them inefficient, and which also has adetrimental effect on appearance of theceiling. p

It is an object of the presentv invention to provide improvements uponacoustical ceilings.

can pass into the room beneath p from a'permanent ceiling ceiling isformed by acoustical panels 12 also provided with means for controllingthe air passage area at will.l l

4These and other objects will be apparent from the ensuing descriptionand the appended claims.

One form of the invention is'illustrated by way of example in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary view in vertical section of a room equippedwith an acoustical ceiling in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view as seen along the line v2--2 of FIGURE 1,showing one `of the ceiling panels on alarger scale than that of FIGUREl and showing -the valve plate employed to adjust the effective size ofthe air passages in the panel.

lFIGURES` is a section taken along the line' 3 3 of FIGURE 2.

v'FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary, sectional view of an acousticalpanel with adifferent and preferred vtype of air passage.

FIGURE 5 -is a fragmentary perspective view showing one way in which theceiling panels of my invention can be mounted.

Referring now to the drawings and preliminarily to FIGURES l, 2 and 3,in FIGURE 1 a room is shown equipped with an acoustical ceiling 10 whichis suspended 11 and which forms a plenum 11a into which a blower 11bblows air. The-acoustical which may be of any suitable type ofconstruction of solid, porous character which is both heat insulatingand sound absorbing.v vThe ceiling 10s suspended from the permanentceiling'll 4by means of wires or lrods 13 attached to longitudinal framemembers 14, such frame members held against the upper surface of thepanel 12 by means of a shaft or pin 19 which is preferably flush withthe be apparent that rotation of the valve It is a further object of theinvention to provide' an v improved means of Ventilating ceilings.'

Itis another and particular object of the invention to provide improvedmeans of adjusting theair passages in an acoustical ceiling.

Yet anotherv object is to provide an orifice of improved characterfor'acoustica'l ceiling panels.

It is a particularfobject of the inventionto provide an acousticalceiling panel which-can be inserted in and rooms having acousticallremoved from an acoustical ceiling at will, such panel being providedai'r passages of superior design which do notbec'ome readily cloggedwithdust, such panel being than an ordinary screwdriver.

lower surface of the panel. 12. The connection between the upper end ofeach shaft or pin 19 and its valve plate 16 is rigid so that `byinserting a screw driver in the head of the shaft 19 and rotating it,the valve plate 16 will be rotated correspondingly. By this means itwill plate 16 is very easy, and requires nothing more in the way ofequipment Also this rotating means is conveniently accessible frombelow, and it does not require removal of any of the panels or access tothe plenum 11a. It should be pointed out that the valve plates 16 canalso be rotated from above, eg., during installation of the ceiling, butit is very advantageous that they can be rotated from below after aceiling has been installed, thereby avoiding the necessity of removingany .of the panels 12 to gain access to the valve plate 16, and

avoiding the need for any complex or difficult operations, or any skillor of special tools or instruments. Instead of a rotary valve membersuch as the valve plate 16 a sliding valve plate (not shown) may beused, but a rotary plateis preferred.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURE 3, it will be seen that eachof the air passages 18 comprises an holes completely through the paneland lgiving them the shape shown. j 1 l Referring to FIGURE 4, an-orifee18a of a different and preferred shape is there shown, which is morerounded from top to bottom, having a rounded flaring portion 26 at thetop which tapers inwardly and uninterruptedly to a restricted throat at27.

Referring now to FIGURE 5 an acoustical panel 12 is there shown which isttedlwith a valve plate 16 and is formed with air passages 18,suchipanel being mount-` ed on a longitudinal member`14 and a transversemember 28. The longitudinal member 14 comprises an upright body portion29 and`horizontal anges 30 atthe bottom and it has guide and supportinggrooves or guideways 31 on each side and at top and `bottom which areintended to slidably receivethe head 32 of a connector clip 33 whose.tip 34 extends through a slot 35 formed in the cross member 28, such tipbeing bent back upon the cross member 28 as shown. The cross members 28are also formed with horizontal oppositely extending flanges 36. As willbe seen each panel 12 is slotted along its edges at 40 for reception ofthe flanges 30 and 36 of the longitudinal and cross members 14 and 28,respectively, a'nd it is recessed above the slots so that the loweredges of adjacent panels can be brought together to conceal the framemembers14 and- 28. A grid of framemembers 14 and 28 is employed tosupport acoustical panels in this manner and to form an acousticalceiling..`

Further details of this type of framework and ceiling construction willbe found in Schwartz andLindheiml The valve plates 16 are very easilymanipulated. Their holes 17 are arranged to register precisely with theair passages 18 so that each valve plate 16 canbe adjusted to wide open,completely closed and all intermediate positions of the air passages 18or 18a. Such adjustments, as noted, can be made very easily by means ofan ordinary screwdriver from beneath vthe ceiling.

The air passages or orifices 18 and 18a are advantageous because they donot plug up and clog nearly as much as passages of other shapesgforexample, slots or cylindrical passages of uniform diameter. The airpassages 18 and 18av conform to thenatural ilow of air.

.On the basis of experience 4and teststhe number and allel faces andformed with air passages extending between said faces for passage of airthrough the panel,

` saidvpassages having a generally truste-conical shape in crosssection, said panel including a rotary valve member having openingsadapted to register with said air passages, said valve member beingrotatably mounted on said panel'V adjacent the wide endsof said ai'rpassages, and means accessible from the' other face of .theA panel forrotating said valve member.

2. A solid, porous acoustical panel having two parallel faces and formedwith air -passages extending between said faces for-passage of airthrough the panel, said passages having a tapered -cross sectiontapering from a widest portion at one face to a narrowest portion attheA other face', said panel including a rotary valve member havingopenings" adapted to register with said t air passages, said valvemember being .rotatably mounted 'on said panel adjacent the wide ends`of said air passages, and means accessible Vfrom the other face of `thepanely for rotatingv said valve member.

3. An lacoustical panel vof solid, porous construction having an upperface and a lower face, said panel being formed with a plurality ofairpassages extending bejtween said fac'esand adapted to pass airthrough the panel, said passages being of circular cross section andtapering in width from the upper face to the lower face, and a valveplate mounted rotatably` on the upper face of the panel and formed withopenings adapted to register with said air passageswhen they plate is ina predetermined angular position, said plate being rotatable from and tosaid position and being adapted to be rotated to other positions toadjust said air passages between fully closedand fully opened positions,said panel also having a shaft extending through the panel, one end ofwhich is accessible from the lower face and is rotatable from suchposition, the otherv end-,of said shaft being Afixed to said plate torotate therewith.

4. An acoustical panel of solid, porous construction having an upperface and a4 lower face, said panel being formed with aplUIality of airpassages extending between said facesA and adapted to pass air throughthe panels,

said passages being of vcircular cross section and tapering in width'from the vupper face to the lower face, a valve plate mounted on theupper face of thel panel and formed with openings adapted to registerwith said air passages, and a shaftvextending through said panel, fixedat its upper end to the center of said plate to rotate therewith and tohold the plate against the upper facev'of the panel,` the lower end ofsaid shaft having means for enga'ging a screwdriver to bring aboutrotation of the shaft and panel.

t References Cited in the tile of Vthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTSOTHER REFERENCES Airsou4 System, pamphlet, received in U.S. PatentOflice on September 15, 1956, rst 5 pages.

